1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to exercise machines, and is particularly concerned with a rowing exercise machine with a pivoting user support.
2. Related Art
There are several different types of exercise for exercising back muscles, including mid-row exercises. These exercises can be difficult for many people to perform using free weights, requiring balance and coordination as well as strength to follow the proper movement path. Free rowing exercises often require an exerciser to bend at the waist, which is undesirable. Improper form by the exerciser can make the exercise more difficult, increase stress on the joints, and even lead to possible injury.
Various exercise machines have been developed for performing rowing and other exercises. Some of these have a stationary user support, while others have a pivoting or movable user support, which may or may not be linked to the exercise arm or user engagement means. One problem in most or all prior art designs is the unnatural and exaggerated arcing movement found in pivoting arm exercise machines, which do not accurately simulate the natural body movement found in free weight and/or free bar exercises.
Movable user supports linked to the movement of an exercise arm are extremely common in exercise machines for performing many different exercises, and are generally known as composite motion exercise machines. U.S. Pat. No. 2,252,156 of Bell and U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,047 of Stearns show bicycle and exercise bike designs in which a seat or user support is linked to an exercise arm or crank and pedal system to provide up and down movement to the seat. The most common application of movable user supports is found in rowing and horse riding type exercise machines, which use the weight of the user as the exercise resistance. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,503 of Lawton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,010 of Geraci, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,269 of Huang, a seat and exercise arm are pivotally mounted on the base frame, with the seat linked to the exercise arm for dependent movement. U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,760 of Bobroff, U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,997 of Chen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,357 of Wang, U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,066 of Richter, U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,553 of Wu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,608 of Chang and U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,710 of Chen all show horse riding type exercise machines. They all consist of a user support pivotally attached to a base frame, and one or more exercise arms pivotally connected to the frame and pivotally linked to the user support.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,588 of Ellis shows a composite motion movement machine that has a moving exercise arm linked to a movable user support, and a pivoting truck system which is slidably connected to rails mounted both on the main frame and user support. The movable user support and exercise arm are both pivoted at the same point on the base frame, in front of the user support. A belt connects the exercise arm to the truck. When the exercise arm is pushed or pulled, the belt pulls the truck along the rails, forcing the user support to rotate about its pivotal connection to the frame. This design puts all of the user's weight on one side of the pivot, producing a high initial lifting resistance when the user starts the exercise, and also has no means for properly aligning the exercise arm and user support during the exercise movement.
Movable seats linked to exercise arms have also been used in multi-purpose exercise machines, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,405 of Habing, U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,120 of Rasmussen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,865 of Gordon, U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,232 of Hsu, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,995 of Prsala. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,405 of Habing, a lever arm is pivotally connected to the base frame and supports a movable sub-frame including a user support which is also pivotally connected to the stationary base frame. An exercise arm is pivotally mounted on the sub-frame and linked to the lever arm via cables and pulleys, so that movement of the exercise arm pulls the cables lifting the lever arm, and causing the sub-frame to pivot about its connection to the base frame and rise against the weight of the user. U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,232 of Hsu shows another multi-purpose exercise machine with a pivoting seat, but in this case the back pad is stationary and only the seat pad is pivoted. Thus, the seat travels in an arcuate path without any secondary stabilization for the user, forcing the user to try to maintain their balance on the seat as it arcs upward. Also, in this design, the pivot point for the seat is located at a spacing behind the user position, so that all of the user's weight opposes the user when starting an exercise from rest. Neither of these machines has any capability for aligning the user and user support with a rigid exercise arm, and thus do not maintain or support the user in the proper position throughout the exercise.
Gordon shows a multi-purpose exercise machine that has a hinged, two-piece user support that folds and unfolds with each exercise repetition, so that the seat and backrest move relative to one another and additional support such a footrest, safety belts and thigh gripping surfaces are required to keep the user properly and safely positioned in the user support. Because most of the combined weight of the user and user support remain on one side of the user support's gravitational centerline, this weight is used as partial exercise resistance.
Current exercise machines with pivoting or movable user supports often do not accurately maintain proper positioning of the user throughout the exercise motion, can result in awkward hand or wrist positions, and often involve exaggerated and unnatural arcing movements, or linear, non-arcing arm movements, rather than the smaller elliptical movement associated with free weight or natural exercise movements. There is no provision for proper positioning of the user relative to the position of the user engaging portion of the exercise arm throughout the entire exercise motion. Often, an awkward starting or finishing position is required, potentially causing strain or injury.